Floor for LGBTQIA+ students set for fall

Corryn Brock, News Editor

Eastern will begin offering a floor for LGBTQIA+ students and allies in the Fall 2021 semester.

The floor will be McKinney Hall. It does not have an official name but there is hope a name will be announced soon.

Director of Housing and Dining Mark Hudson said the idea for the floor is not new to him.

“This has been an ongoing conversation for a number of years. Every time it comes up, Pride brings it up and we talk through it and this year that it was time to really (set it up.) What we always talk about is how to best serve people connected to the LGBTQIA+ community and this year they really thought it was best for us to implement a floor community,” Hudson said. “It sounded like a good plan to us because we’re always looking for ways in which we can best serve our residents and so we worked with PRIDE and the (Center for Gender and Sexual Diversity) and we came up with this.”

He said expects to a lot of interest in the floor. Tanya Willard, coordinator for the Center of Gender Sexual Diversity, said she expects the same interest.

Willard will help select students for the floor including students who are in the LGBTQIA+ community and allies of the community.

A revision will be made to the housing forms so students can list the floor as a preference in the coming weeks.

Hudson said he hopes students feel comfortable living on the floor.

“My hope for all of our resident is that they find a place where they have comfort, they feel a part of a community and they can be themselves and feel a sense a connection to the residents around them. This is really no different than that, it’s just a pointed area specifically for students who are a part of that specific community,” Hudson said. “We have the honors floors where students are a part of the Honors College so this is sort of like that in terms of they have a connection and the thing that’s different about this community is it will be done in conjunction with the GSD Office.”

“I think it will be a place where people find acceptance and we know when people are comfortable their grades tend to be higher and their stress level tends to be lower and who doesn’t love that.

Willard said she hopes students feel safe living on the floor.

“I just want this place to be a place where students can feel safe when they go home. Students spend a lot of time in the classroom but they spend most of their time outside of the classroom so when students go home to the place where they should feel the safest and the most comfortable and the most like themselves, that that is what they’re actually experiencing with a community of folks who support them, care about them and can provide that sense of comfort when they come home and lay their head on the pillow at night,” Willard said.

She added she is proud of the collaboration on the new floor that involved the GSD advisory board, VIce President of Student Affairs Anne Flaherty, the Pride organizations and the Housing and Dining office.

At the end of 2020 a petition circulated calling for gender-inclusive housing at Eastern.

The petition said:

“EIU Pride students have discussed a need for gender-inclusive housing. The only choices on this campus are to live in a gendered room. Trans, intersex, and people that do not feel the need for gendered housing exist on this campus. Not everyone is male or female and getting options would be beneficial to creating an inclusive campus. To accommodate these needs, Eastern Illinois University should provide gender-inclusive housing.”

Some comments on the petition left by those who signed it include:

· “Everyone deserves a space that feels safe and welcoming on campus. EIU should not claim to be inclusive if they do not consider the needs of our LGBT+ friends and residents.”

· “As a transmasculine nonbinary person, I was rushing to get one of the triad rooms just to be safe and seen, and I was incredibly lucky to get a shot at that. Safe housing created so much stress for me and other LGBTQ+ people I know. Student housing shouldn’t be restricted to the traditional binary of male and female. Offering gender-inclusive housing both accommodates and respects the complexities of gender identity and creates a safe space for students of all gender presentation, expressions, and identities. If Student Housing values student success and is committed to that idea, then they must know that creating these spaces to respect gender identity and expression isn’t hard and is crucial for the wellbeing of many individuals like me. Many IL colleges have already done it- it’s time for EIU to as well.”

· “Gender inclusive housing is not only the right thing to do, but it also creates a safe living environment for students who are trans, intersex, non-binary and more.”

Hudson said the petition wasn’t the driving force behind the decision for the floor. He said they were more concerned on hearing from Eastern students.

 

Corryn Brock can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].